


My Heart's Like Yours - Discontinued

by sorensen



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Feelings, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mentioned Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Minor Violence, Spoilers, Under construction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2020-08-20 10:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorensen/pseuds/sorensen
Summary: The Warrior of Light remembers everything about her life as an Amaurotine, and while she doesn't necessarily agree with the choices Persephone made, she can understand why she made them. This WoL will right the wrongs of her predecessor all while perhaps wooing over the Ascian that the Amaurotines would consider her to technically still be married to.When the Warrior of Light demands time to relax, she takes a minute to realize that her heart beats in time with Emet-Selch's.The Warrior of Light realizes that impossibly, it's possible to be jealous of one's own self.* Discontinued. *





	1. Headstrong to Take on Anyone

**Author's Note:**

> I've been gobbling down all the Emet-Selch fanfics and I thought it was time to contribute myself. I play around with a bit of the idea that the PC/PS4 mechanics of 'death' and the echo are canon.
> 
> It's been forever since I've written a fanfic, so your kudos and comments are love! <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's it like when our dear WoL first meets Emet-Selch again, but with her memories in place?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. I went back to when they first re-met instead wrote the fluffy chapter about the fair and a birthday. That'll still happen though!
> 
> Feel free to let me know if I've mixed up any of the lore below, I really only got into it with ShB. I've been reading as much as I can and watching videos, but there's a lot of it!

When he first produces himself in front of them in the Crystarium, Persia couldn't explain why her first instinct was to throw her shoe at his head. Emet-Selch nearly misses catching it before it would've hit him square in the face, and it's clear that she'd ruined whatever dramatic entrance he had prepared.

The twins, Ryne and Urianger are looking at her in complete confusion, while Thancred looked frankly delighted, and Emet-Selch looked torn between being furious and laughing.

"Ah. The Warrior of Light. I'd heard you were... different, I didn't realize that meant you were simply insane."

"I'm no more insane than you are Hades."

The name clearly threw the ascian off from whatever game he was about to play. Persia raised the shields around her soul ever so slightly more. She wasn't sure if she was ready to reveal just who she had been to him previously, but it was all for naught a moment later.

"Persephone." Lousy connection. Persia blamed Persephone's soul bond with him for giving her away.

"I prefer Persia these days actually,  _ husband _ . Or should I call you Emperor Solus? Emet-Selch? What name are you handing out these days?"

"Emet-Selch will do just fine. I do believe your predecessor also made it quite clear that she no longer considered us husband and wife when she summoned a primal that split the world apart and sacrificed the rest of our people to do so."

Persia ignored the muttered gasps behind her. While she'd explained that she was different to the Scions previously, and Minfilia had known that her soul had been rejoined seven times, Persia had left out just who she had been in regards to Emet-Selch and Persephone's involvement in the creation of Hydaelyn.

"I don't know what you're expecting me to say. Sorry? You would've had your people live in the thrall of a primal for the rest of existence in a never-ending cycle of sacrificing your people to feed Zodiark's ever enlargening hunger. That wouldn't have saved your people; it would've made them slaves to his will. That was not a life she was prepared to volunteer your people for. You doomed your planet, and she was not about to allow you to sacrifice the innocent species on the planet we shared. Persephone had never intended to split the world into fourteen pieces. At least she summoned a primal who was self-sustaining, and let your people live on, even if differently than before!"

"They are broken people!" Emet-Selch threw back at her. "They are people who are fractions of who they should be!"

"That doesn't make them any less worthy of life! You can not continue to murder people, the very thing you hold against Persephone because you think it's what needs to be done.” The Scions had continued to watch the debate back and forth, Persia could just see the subtle “No, no, keep  _ moving _ ,” looks Thancred was giving stray passers-by.

“My soul has been rejoined seven times Hades, and do you know what I remember? Countless lives where I have lived, loved and died. I have died so many times. Do you know what that does to a soul? And do you know what the worst deaths were? They were the ones where I died  _ twice _ .” She spat the words at him, furious for the lives she’d lost to the calamities.

“I lost them once to whatever calamity you, Lahabrea, Elidibus or whatever broken piece," Persia emphasized, glaring at him all the while, "of your former friends you have elevated back to "themselves," and once on the Source when the shard rejoined. Would you like to know how it feels to drown? Or to slowly bleed to death when an avalanche crushes you? To burn? To suffocate? I can tell you about all of my deaths as a result of you and yours,  _ Emet-Selch _ ."

Persia ignored the briefly stricken look on Emet-Selch's face before continuing.

"So before you waltz up to us with whatever ‘plan,’ you thought you had, I'd consider that. I have no interest in playing your games."

"Very well. I'd thought we could work together here, but I can see that's not going to be an option."

"Oh no, I'm perfectly willing to let you watch as I dismantle everything you have set-up here on the First. Be my guest. Do you need introductions?" Persia half-turned away from him and gestured toward the group that had been silently watching the back and forth behind her. "The twins back there are Alphinaud and Alisaie. The fascinated elezen in front of them is Urianger. Thancred over there is the one Lahabrea temporarily spent time as. Ryne is the Oracle of Light.”

Persia turned her back to Emet-Selch in a manner she knew would drive him insane, “Friends, this is Emet-Selch. He is the last of the Asian Primes, and he was the Architect of Amaurot, the city I've told you about before the Doom set in. He was also Persephone's husband."

"Er, hello?" Alisaie tossed out, looking between Persia and Emet-Selch. Of all the scions, Alisaie had probably heard the most of Persia's ranting about the man. The only other person who'd been willing to discuss the Ascian with her had been Lyse, and she likely would've tried punching him over saying hello, so it was probably best that she was still back on the Source.

"We'll continue this later, Warrior." With that, Emet-Selch opened a rift, stepping through.

"Ta-ta!" Persia called at his retreating back.

Persia didn't see Emet-Selch again until she was trudging through the swamp in the Rak'tika Greatwood. She'd been ignoring the shoebill that had clearly been Hades following her around for the better part what was honestly, a mostly meaningless errand.

"What." She asked, barely glancing in his direction as she gathered a section of herbs. No sense in ignoring the items she needed to accumulate anyway. When the bird merely stared back at her, Persia realized that he probably thought she was indeed insane to be talking to a bird.

"You do realize that I can tell it's you, right, Hades? Your soul may be small crammed inside that bird, but I'd have guessed it was you just from the exhausted slash annoyed expression the bird wears all the time."

There was a momentary pause before the shoebill disappeared and a moment later the ascian appeared on a branch of the tree she'd now begun to work on harvesting. Persia glanced up toward him before continuing to chop away at the tree. It wasn't her business if he ended up in swamp water. A deep sigh followed before he spoke, "Shouldn't you be trying to preserve the life of the tree? Isn't it part of the precious life you were so desperate to save over the lives of your own people?"

Persia momentarily weighed ignoring the baited sentence, but nobody had ever been convinced to change their opinion by being ignored. "First of all, this is a forest. It will hardly notice a few fewer trees, second, this tree was crowding the ones over there," Persia pointed at the other two perfectly lovely trees he could've pestered her from instead, "third, that was Persephone's choice, not mine. Just because I have her memories does not mean I would've made the same choices as her, or that I agree with the actions she took. And before you get excited," she said, looking up at the man who had been about to spout out some form of the reason why Zodiark was the best, "I do agree with her that you were wrong."

"You know, none of the previous incarnations of you were such a pain."

"Well, there's still six of them left, you could be bothering them instead of preventing my branch from falling like it should've long before now." Persia gave a pointed glance at the piece that was nearly fully detached. Hades smirked before snapping his fingers, leaving the tree completely solid once more. Resisting the urge to flip him off, Persia walked deeper into the forest for another tree.

"But that wouldn't be nearly so fun. Those souls are all boring with, but a single piece of your soul and only one or two of them are even interesting. One of them doesn't even have to worry about a calamity; he's going to keel over from old age at any minute."

"You'd know something about being an old man, wouldn't you?"

Hades ignored her entirely, now taking to floating behind her, his robes just clear of the sludge of the marsh she was currently trudging through. Persia briefly considered kicking some the muddy water toward him, but with her luck it’d end up on her instead.

"What would you have me do, Warrior? Should Elidibus and I give up on our people?"

"Yes," Persia said simply, turning around to look at him. "For all your actions, you've merely been trying to speed along a process that'll likely happen on its own. Even if you do accomplish your goal, you'll still not have solved the problem that Creation magic in that many souls caused enough drain on the Lifestream that it screamed in pain. Even in your perfect scenario, which I fully believe is foolhardy, you'll just be putting us right back into a situation that'll inevitably cause the Doom to happen all over again.”

The look on Hades’ face was moderately astounded. Truly,  _ none _ of her previous souls had honestly tried  _ reasoning _ with him, and it baffled her.

“It would never be the same as what you lost. You cannot go back to the way that things once were, and I know that if you hadn't been so afraid and rushed when you helped summon Zodiark that you would realize that. But while you're like that," Persia said, gesturing in his direction, "you'll never be able to find another answer."

"And what exactly is it that I'm like Warrior?" His words were quieter than she expected, and Persia briefly wondered if despite what she'd expected, he might be listening. It had taken her ages to get Lahabrea even to begin to listen to her, and she hadn't expected Hades to from the beginning.

"Tempered by his will."

"Ah. Yes. Well, I believe you'll find that here on the First things are a bit different," Hades said, golden eyes gesturing toward the sky. "All the light aether hereabouts makes Zodiark rather turned down. I'm rather more me than Zodiark right now." At this, Persia stopped and looked at Hades for the first time; rather, she actually  _ looked  _ at him. How was it that she'd missed how tired he looked? Not his physical form, he’d always been a lazy brat, but his  _ soul. _

Contaminated as it was with Zodiark's will, it looked exhausted. His soul looked lonely. For better or worse, Persia realized, she was the closest he likely had been to his wife in centuries, a wife who had never really had the chance to explain her actions to her husband. Hades likely missed her. Or well, Persia supposed, Persephone.

While Elidibus was still around, it was also true that during their time in Amaurot, he had still been the Emissary. Elidibus had always acted on his own, always been separate from the rest of the group, and it was unlikely that anything had changed with him in the millennia since. Hades and Lahabrea had never really gotten along, Persephone had always been coming between them and convincing the two to talk instead of shout. 

He had probably been mostly alone centuries. It certainly explained why he had spent so long as Solus, why he'd married her previous incarnation on the Source. Hydaelyn had been disguising her soul from the other Ascians for the most part in this life, which explained why it had taken him so long to appear in front of her.

"So it does." She'd said after a pause. "What's the thing you're most proud of having built since Amaurot?"

"Well, that's an abrupt change in the subject if I've ever heard one, Warrior. Tired of all the monologing?"

"Yes. Now tell me."

"Demanding little thing, aren't you? Very well. I am rather proud of the Garlean Empire, actually."

"Liar. That was the one that has most recently accomplished the most toward your goals. That's what  _ Zodiark  _ is the proudest of you for having built. There's work, and there's play, Hades, what is the thing you've built just for the sake of building it?"

"I believe you call it 'Old Gridania' these days back on the Source."

"Wait, hold on, you started Gridania? How did that happen?"

"It was more that I planted a tree rightabout where Persephone's soul split into fourteen different pieces, and I buried her body. It's why the area is so verdant."

Persia stopped ripping at the choking vines that were strangling a rather promising sapling before looking over at him. "Well, that was more depressing than I was expecting."

"My sincerest apologies warrior that I haven't spent my time since the doom of my world creating gardens and libraries."

Persia swatted at the myriad of bugs that were attempting to feast on her. This is why swamps were the worst. Aside from the desert, that was, even more, the worst. Sand. So much sand. "Why not, though? But also, that explains a lot."

"You can not be serious, Warrior."

"Hades, do you know what caused my memories to return? What caused me to have sympathy for your cause even if I disagree with it? It was that same damned tree. You can tell I've dabbled in the healing artes, right?"

"Yes. Amid the myriad of other skills, it appears you have picked up and dropped off like you change clothes. How do you even manage to keep everything you need for all those jobs?"

"I have a system," Persia said, ignoring the thought that her retainers were all planning to strike if she didn't organize their inventory soon.

"The point is, that, that tree is the focal point for a lot of the learning a white mage goes through. It is the largest elemental for malms around. And when I was forced to traipse up to that damn tree for the seemingly hundredth time, I passed out. I was still young in my career as an adventurer, I'd only slayed a few primals at the time, and Lahabrea had spent most of the time I'd met him being a dick rather than reminding me of anything, but as I thought, 'Man, whoever planted this tree so far out of the way was a dick.' and it turns out that it was you who caused my memories to begin to return.” Hades was cautiously watching her from a branch once more, but since he seemed intent on listening, she continued on.

“Ever since then I've remembered bits and pieces at seemingly random intervals, but I'm guessing they're also places that have a link to our past. Nearly every soul I've met that is a piece of a former Ancient is drawn to those places. Those are the souls that have burned brighter, been smarter, stronger, and lived longer than anywhere else.” Persia took a deep breath, struggling to say things the right way.

“You are waiting to see if humanity is ‘worthy,’ from what I've heard from Elidibus, but you're gaming the system. The Ancients had millennia after millennia to reach the utopia that was Amaurot. You've given humanity  _ one _ . Look at each civilization you've touched. Have they not grown inexplicably more advanced by your time with them? I know it's not all you, look at Cid, or his father." Persia had begun hauling her loot back toward Slitherbough and was now approaching the gates, she looked at him and then at the town.

Hades rolled his eyes at what she was implying. Waving his hand goodbye, he walked away, but not before saying, "An interesting thought, Warrior. Perhaps we'll have to continue this conversation later." A moment later Persia saw his avian form fly over and perch on the Aetheryte crystal. How he had expected to follow her around without her noticing is genuinely astounding. Next time she caught him, she was shooting him with her pistol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have the tendency to unlock every class when I'm in the proximity of them, play for a lvl or two, and then shove everything I can onto one of my poor retainers. I also may have gotten annoyed at all the times the WHM quest made me traipse over to a tree. Or save the tree. Or figure out how I was supposed to be saving the tree -again-.
> 
> Also, I got my first comment, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! <3


	2. Headstrong to Take on Anyone

They're laying in bed in the Crystarium taking a rare moment to relax. This moment has been hard-won by both of them, and Persia wasn't one to let opportune times like these pass by.

"Our heartbeats match." She'd been laying with her ear over his chest and couldn't help the slight snicker that Thancred would be astounded to realize that yes, the Ascian did indeed still have a heart. She felt the man beneath her tense at her abrupt comment.

"Whatever do you mean, Dear Warrior."

"My heartbeat has always been odd. My mother panicked quite a bit about it when I was born, actually." Persia said, turning her head to look up Emet-Selch, regarding her with wary golden eyes. "Your heart does the same thing as mine; there's an extra 'thump.' and then a longer pause than usual."

"Is there really," he drawled, consciously relaxing his body. But Persia knew that tone - it was the tone he used when he was trying to ignore something that probably actually meant something important.

"What are you trying not to tell me," Persia replied, squinting her eyes at him.

"Oh nothing, maybe you just have hearing issues from all the times you've died, that's all." Persia knew he was teasing, but she could hear the bit of bitterness that laid underneath the statement. 

Regardless of the fact that he'd previously been part of the very group that was the cause of the majority of those deaths, he hadn't taken the news well that she frequently died over and over fighting everything from Primals to that one time she forgot to move out of range for an explosion. That the Scions merely shrugged it off had caused him to be even more irate. Since his conversion to fighting _ with _ her rather than against her, he'd been rather protective, despite knowing that even if she died she'd return good as new thanks to the Echo.

"That's not what is going on, and you know it." She said, sitting up and ignoring the fact that she wasn't clothed from the waist up. Persia batted away the hand reaching for her to come back. "You don't lie Architect, and I can tell when you're trying to change the subject."

"Fine." He said, sulking a bit for a moment. Persia couldn't help but appreciate the dramatics, even as she pointedly stared at him until he continued. "You know that during your previous life that we were married, yes?" He said, barely looking at the warrior before continuing. "It is a side-effect for some."

"That can't be all though. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so squirrely." Still, since he'd begun to answer her, Persia snuggled up against him on the headboard, tucking herself back into his side.

"If heartbeats synced during the soul-bonding it meant that the two souls were a match. Persephone, naturally had been my own." he began, looking down at her with fondness in his eyes. "When we... fought..." he said, trailing off and pausing for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. It'd been a subject he'd been reluctant to discuss, and she knew whatever had happened between himself and Persephone at the end hadn't ended well. While she shared most of Persephone’s memories, much of the time from the end was still missing. 

She knew Zodiark already had tempered him, that Persephone had refused to go along with the plans of the Convocation, pled with them to give her more time, to let her finish her research into using the Lifestream. She'd realized long before the others that the 'will of the star' would continuously demand more and more from them without something for it to continually feed on, and when they’d determined that they couldn’t wait any longer, she’d resigned, letting the fourteen members become thirteen.

Persia leaned over to kiss the corner of his mouth, "You don't have to continue, Hades, if it's too painful. I know that what came at the end isn't something you like to recall." He pulled her onto his lap, her back to his front before continuing, wrapping his arms around her.

"After the end, I'd look for your incarnations on each shard I visited. They were always familiar, always just a bit like Persephone. The versions of her, of you," he said, hugging her a bit closer and placing his chin on her shoulder, "were never a match though. Our hearts were always out of sync. Mine seemed to have lost the extra 'thump' that yours had always had.” She felt him press a kiss to her shoulder, “And so, my Dreadful Warrior, I know not what it means that my heart has returned to matching your own, nor when such a change might have occurred."

"Probably when I killed you." She replied laughing, Hades dropping the hand that had picked up her own.

"Yes, that truly was the act of love that changed my heart, you murdering me."

"Hey!" Persia replied with a pout. They'd agreed not to call it 'murder.' Hades laughed, turning her head to give her a kiss in apology before continuing, "Though actually, my freedom from Zodiark's tempering may have been the change. I'd like to think," he said, trailing kisses across the back of her neck, "that it was somewhere around when you decided to shut me up by kissing me out of nowhere."

"I can't help it that it was the best way to shut you up at the time. You can go on and on an on-", Persia replied, laughing all the while. She turned around and straddled his lap instead, entirely unsurprised when he cut her off with a kiss of his own, admonishing her with a nip to her lower lip that Persia responded to by giving him one of his own.

"Did you love them?" Persia asked, tucking her head under his chin to listen to his heart once more. She wasn't sure if she could bear to look into his eyes while he answered this question. The Ascian merely pulled back and cocked an eyebrow at her, not entirely sure what she had meant by the question.

"The other... me's. Or your wife as Solus. Weren't the two of you married for a rather long time?"

"No." He replied, seemingly leaving it at that for a moment. "None of the incarnations of your soul before now were anything but a mere echo of who my wife had really been. Even you, my Dearest Warrior, closest to her in many ways, are not her.”

It was frustrating. Depressing. Absolutely maddening to know that she'd always be competing for herself in Hades' heart. It was _ her _ , but it _ wasn’t _ . She knew he didn't see it that way, that broken thing though she was, she was still 'Persephone', but _ she _ did not see it the same. She thought him ready to leave it there, but a moment later, he continued.

"My wife as Zenos, Penelope, was a means to an end. I wanted my line to continue when I decided I was finished ruling, and she wanted the status as Empress. She was mostly powerless, a figurehead, but she'd had access to things that she hadn't as a noble. She improved the living conditions for many within the city, grew nearly every plant that would grow, and was the 'perfect' wife in the eyes of the people. I hated her."

"You hated her? Why?" The warrior asked, looking up at Emet-Selch in surprise. "I did. I’m not entirely sure she did not feel the same. She was perhaps too much like the Persephone that I had thought to have known. The Persephone that had me utterly unconvinced that a friend of Halmarut’s, a mere _ botanist _, could ever be a more than adept fighter. I'd thought that Penelope was the closest I'd ever get 'back' before I met you."

The comment bit at her slightly. She'd hoped that Hades had fallen for her as herself, not as merely a shadow of Persephone.

"Of course, you differ from Persephone so much that I didn’t even recognize you, not until the _shoe_.”

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to convince her soul to stop swirling with the jealousy she knew he could read on her in an instant.

"You are similar in some, the ones that don’t really matter. Persephone absolutely hated the desert, and I think she took it was a personal affront to her botany background." He said, giving her a look that she knew meant they were both remembering how she'd complained nearly constantly in Amh Araeng, about everything from the sand in her boots to the way the sun made her gun uncomfortably hot to handle. "You both fight with an intensity I’ve never seen matched. You though are not unlike a small dog. When you set your mind on something, you will fight at it until you _ win _. Persephone eventually gave up on us, while you refused to be ignored. You nagged at my very soul until it gave way to your own. You did what she could not. Every time you get knocked down, you get up once more, fighting harder, even more determined to save those who most would consider lost." She knew he was referring to not just the people she had saved along the way, but himself as well.

"You're worth it." She said, putting a hand on his face. "While some of the choices you made while tempered weren't... great..." she gestured with her hands in a large circle, "they also weren't entirely your own. You made the choice you did in fear, in a desperate attempt to save your people. The fact that nearly half the Amaurotines sacrificed their lives to save the planet based on only your word says something about the kind of people you were before Zodiark. Everything you did was for the benefit of each other. That was the person I wanted to save. I saw you in the moments when the light was too bright for Zodiark's grasp on your soul to be firm enough to ignore my ‘nagging’ as I believe you called it.

"So I won you over with boring stories of how I liked to design gardens and how Elidibus spent his free time teaching children how to Create."

"No, you won me over by showing me that the Amaurotines, that you, were people worth saving. You won G’raha Tia over when you siphoned darkness from the Thirteenth to the First to help restore the balance of light and dark within me and then showed me how to use that balance to restore part of the First to its natural order. You began to win the Scions over when you combined your knowledge with Urianger to finish the transportation between their bodies and souls so they would no longer be phantoms, trapped between two worlds."

"I don't care about them, you know. Not really." He couldn’t _ lie _, so she knew it was true, but she knew they were growing on him.

"I think they're winning you over yet. I know you have a soft spot for Ryne."

"The girl had been practically tempered herself by Hydaelyn, I merely sympathize with her." Persia would saw straight through him. He'd deny it, but she knew that Ryne reminded him of himself as a child. She was always asking questions, still determined to push herself a little further than others that she could go to prove herself.

Persia laughed before giving him a more lingering kiss than the previous ones had been. "I don't believe that for a second, but I think I know how you can try to convince me." She said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. Hades huffed a laugh before allowing the conversation to taper off.

"I suppose since we ARE supposed to be relaxing after all. Or so I believe you demanded of us both when your little friends wanted you to traipse back to the Source again."

"I need a vacation! With Zenos unconcerned with the actual ruling of Garlemald, the war lines have pulled back to their respective territories. Do you know have many Primals I have killed in the last year? To the Scions, it's been a year or more, but to me, it has been weeks."

"You don't have to convince me, Dearest Warrior. I am all for lazing about, taking long naps, and perhaps getting into a little mischief."

"What do you say we go 'relax' in the considerably large bathing room down the hall?"

"Isn't that communal? Oh, Warrior, I knew there was a little darkness inside you after all." Persia laughed before wrapping a sheet around herself and dashing down the hall. Hades didn't need to know that she'd already commandeered the room from the other Scions for the weekend.


	3. "And I wait, and I wait, and I wait for her."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a messy business when you're trying to kill someone without actually killing them.
> 
> Persia would like to avoid the killing part if at all possible, please.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place before 'My Heart's Like Yours' and discusses a bit about how I think the whole 'remove the tempering' would go and why Emet-Selch is less one-note than some of the Ascians have been previously.

"This terrifies me Hades. I know that this is the best solution we have, but what if it doesn't work. Up until now we only used this to  _ kill _ Ascians, not save them!" Persia practically shouted, waving the white auracite crystal that Thancred had handed her earlier.

"It will work." He said, pulling her chin up to look him in the eyes. She'd been looking just about anywhere but at him, since they'd reached Amaurot and the memories of their past had nearly crushed her. "I am not Nabriales nor Igeyorhm. They were a single fragment of their selves when we elevated them back to their positions. I am one of the two remaining unsundered Amaurotines." He said it with confidence bordering cockiness she knew he meant every bit of, but it didn't ease the anxiousness that Persia was feeling any less.

"We don't have the luxury of a choice, Dear Warrior. As you strive to return balance to this shard, Zodiark's foothold will eventually return, and his tempering over my soul strengthen once more. It is only the vast quantity of Light in your possession right now that allows me to be this free, and it is corrupting your soul to contain it all on your own. If you continue to harbor as much Light as you are with only a half -" "Four sevenths!" Persia cut in, momentarily flashing those pale blue eyes to his own. 

"Yes, I apologize Dear Warrior, for neglecting to round up to the exact percentage you are so adamant about having, as I was saying, however, with only four-sevenths of your soul, it will begin to unravel once more, and even you will succumb to becoming a Light Warden." His hands had come up around her waist as he spoke, and she knew from the tightening of his hands that that was a possibility he no longer wanted to occur, regardless of what he'd said to her at the top of Mt. Gulg.

Despite his words, Persia was no less anxious than she had before. She wasn't concerned with the state of  _ her  _ soul, she was concerned with what the state of his would be after they 'killed' him. The plan was that she’d work with Urianger and Y'shtola to remove the tempering from his soul while it was in the white auracite before G'raha Tia put his soul back in his body when they were done. 

So many things could go wrong during the process. He could  _ actually  _ die when she killed him with the auracite. They could immeasurably destroy his soul while they removed the tempering. While Urianger had speculated that his soul would merely be contained within the crystal, Y'shtola had offhandedly mentioned it might begin to return to the lifestream. While Persia was in possession of over half of her soul, and she’d be nearly two thirds when Ardbert rejoined her soul during the process, she'd never been the expert on aether and souls as Persephone either and so her own thoughts were moot.

"Persia," he said, using the name he typically avoided calling her. If she had to hazard a guess, it was because her name was so close to Persephone's, but he'd also joked that it was because he'd met so many versions of her and they all had similar names that he couldn’t keep them apart. She wasn't entirely sure he was joking about that. Still, she knew he was serious about what he was about to say as he continued.

"This is our only choice. Even if it wasn't our only choice, it is still the one that I would make. You have my full permission to murder me," Hades ignored her protesting shout of, "Hey! Not murder!" continuing, "and know that even if everything goes terribly wrong because you tripped while holding the crystal because you are the clumsiest soul I have ever met, that I would still find it in my heart to only take it out on the next two incarnations of your soul. Furthermore, I would-"

Persia had cut off his rambling sentence by grabbing him by his oh so fluffy jacket and kissing him. She'd deny it when asked and say it was because he was going on a tangent, but she knew the truth was that she'd just wanted to do it. She couldn’t take the risk that he’d die and she’d never know what it was like to press her lips on his own.

A moment passed before he returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her body as if she was the one that would try and escape. An age passed, and Persia couldn't help but notice that sometime during her panic that Alisaie and Y'shtola had convinced the rest of the Scions to give them a moment and shooed them all from the room. She dimly recalled a faint “We'll be just... wandering this ridiculously large and easily lost in city when you need us.”

"I just needed to do that." She said, a little breathless when they finally paused their kissing. He was resting his forehead against her own, those pale gold eyes hyperfocused on her own as she snuggled up to him.

"Well, that was a decision I wouldn't mind you repeating. And as much as I would love to continue this moment, your soul is fit to bursting my Dear Warrior. Can you even see right now?"

Ah. Maybe that'd been why Hades been so focused on her eyes. Persia didn't think the Scions had noticed, but her vision had been closing ever-onward inward, colors fading to bright bursts of white. She probably had hours left at this point before she'd be unable to see at all. Without her ability to see aether she'd likely be unable to continue walking around unaided at all. It was only thanks to some quietly whispered advice from Y'shtola about aether sight that she'd even made it this long.

"Ardbert?" Persia called, looking around her. The warrior had been doing a remarkable job at keeping out of sight during her discussions with Hades, but she knew he kept himself nearby these days, ever aware of the state of her soul. Once Emet-Selch was made aware of the fragment of her soul lingering nearby, he'd annoyed Ardbert about rejoining his soul to her own if the Light became too much to bear. "Even if they weren't ready for their "experiment" with his soul yet.

"Here, warrior. I'm ready if you are." The warrior appeared by her side, knowing it was time. She'd discussed this extensively with Ardbert, and he'd been surprisingly eager to begin.

"Alright. Let's get the Scions back and do this." Persia said, feeling like her heart was in her throat. She'd grown her entire life knowing that Persephone had loved Hades with her whole being and that her heart had broken a thousand ways when she'd left to summon Hydealyn. 

As much as Persia worried the feelings she felt Hades had come from Persephone's memories, she knew it was just as much from the moments she'd had with him during her time on the First that had her nervous.

"Dear Warrior of mine. One thing." Hades said, turning her back toward him. "If something does go wrong, promise me this. Remember. Remember us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for alternating between Emet-Selch and Hades so much, but since my WoL remembers most of her past as Persephone, I feel like she'd be more likely to alternate between the two 'names'.
> 
> Thank you for all your kudos on the first chapter! <3 It was enough to convince me to continue rambling on about my love for Hades.
> 
> Bonus <3 to anyone who knows where this chapter's title came from.


	4. Waking Up the Giants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The WoL may or may not be a frequent user of Fantasia.
> 
> Emet-Selch notices when others do not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swaps perspective half-way through the chapter, and man does writing as Hades take some thinking. It's hard to write snarky but self-conscious?

The first time Emet-Selch appeared in Persia's room unannounced, it'd been to a bit of a shock to the both of them. Persia, because she hadn't expected her sometimes-ally, sometimes-frenemy to appear in her room without knocking, and Emet-Selch because it seemed that the Viera he'd met had changed into a Hyur.

"Warrior, what have you done?" He'd asked, looking at her shocked. It was clearly still Persia, he could tell as much from her soul, but creatures did not typically change from one species to another overnight.

"What? Oh, I got tired of looking so stern all the time. Wait a minute, you can tell?" She'd asked, standing up from the desk where she'd been reading a rather inappropriate novel. Persia tried slipping the book behind her, but from the brief smirk on Emet-Selch's face, it was apparent he'd already seen what she was reading.

"Of course, I can tell. You had long rabbit ears yesterday, and today you're a Hyur, how would one manage to miss that?" Persia could feel him poking about at her soul like perhaps she'd just slipped and hit a button that toggled her species between one and another and he could reset it for her.

"Nobody ever notices," Persia replied, feeling slightly self-conscious. Her changing between species had always been one of the rarely selfish things she would do from time to time. Somehow the Scions memory of the species she'd worn at the time had always just seemed to be re-written to what she currently was.

He'd been momentarily perplexed at that before adding, "It's something rare a few of my people were able to do as well. The novelty of it typically wore off when we were children, but how odd that you have retained the ability to do so with only half your soul. It typically required immense focus."

"I sort've just get naked and then think about what I'd rather look like," Persia responded bluntly.

"Is that so, Warrior? Perhaps you'll have to show me one day." He nearly purred back in response. Persia wanted to ignore the implication that he'd like to see her naked, but with the novel she'd just been reading she couldn't help the thoughts that crossed her mind involving her naked and Hades.

"Perhaps one day." She'd manage to stutter out, furiously trying to ignore the blush she knew was overcoming her cheeks. Stupid Hyur blushing. This was precisely what she'd been afraid of when she'd chosen the species, especially when compared to how naturally angry Viera seemed to be all the time.

\------------

Months later, Hades awoke. He'd held still, briefly taking a mental inventory of himself. The last thing he'd remembered was his entire being was being sucked into the vacuum of the white auracite. He felt awful actually, a bit like someone had been picking apart pieces of his soul, pulling out parts of it and discarding them. He imagined it felt a bit like being crushed by Titan would feel. He heard a muffled "-sia, come quick! I think he's waking up," that sounded like it could've come from the female elezen Persia was so fond of. Alice? Alberta? No, Alisaie. He'd been determined to try and remember her name as she'd been the only Scion who didn't seem to treat the warrior's deaths like an everyday occurrence.

"Hey there old man," he heard someone say, his head being lifted and placed on a lap. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could sleep for a hundred years and still be tired." He managed to mutter out, still keeping his eyes closed. 

"So pretty normal then?" Persia had asked, snickering. He'd tried to protest her snark, but honestly, but lap was rather comfortable.

Persia pointed out to him, "Thinking back, that was pretty typical of you even back then. Persephone used to have to set what, four alarms? Each one further away from you so you couldn’t just  _ snap _ and turn them off."

It was, and it was also Persephone’s first clue about how something had been wrong with his soul. The days before Persephone had left and after their initial falling out about Zodiark had been filled with arguments and had ended with Persephone ripping as much of her soul away from Hades as possible while they remained married. The feeling had not been entirely dissimilar to what he's currently been feeling. Hades supposed that it was possible tempering was a corrupted version of the soul bond Amaurotines experienced when they married and aligned their souls together.

"So annoying, Warrior." He'd muttered in response, entirely to change the subject before finally opening his eyes. Further inventory of himself seemed to reveal that battered as though he felt, everything seemed to still be in place. His store of aether were low, which was to be expected considering that situation. Turning his head to look up at her, "You've changed forms again, I see."

"Yeah. I didn't like the way it felt when I ran as a hyur. Since you've been out I've tried a taller Viera, a lalafel, and now back to Miqo'te." He couldn't help but choke out a laugh at the image of the warrior as a lalafel. He couldn't imagine she'd stayed so short for very long without feeling like a child again. Miqo'te though she seemed to settle in relatively well. 

Ever since the first time he'd witnessed her change, he could see the swirls of her soul when she began to get tired of staying in her current form. Thus far however he'd merely witnessed her hair going from dark and short to long and white and back again.

"It suits you. But I'm dreadfully disappointed Dear Warrior; I thought we had an agreement that next time I would get to watch."

"I'm not sure 'agreement' is the word I'd have chosen, but it's not my fault you've slept through all the times I've done it in here while you've been asleep." Hades looked at her for a moment before realizing where exactly he was. It seemed his dear warrior had been keeping him in her rooms of all places.

"Don't you pout at me!" Persia responded, laughing at the expression on his face. She leaned down to kiss to him, leaving him even more confused than he had been previously.

"Uh, sorry. If that wasn't what you wanted, you just seemed, uhm, to have been receptive before?" Persia rambled, losing her confidence the longer she rambled on.

"I didn't tell you to stop."

"Oh! Well, then." She'd said before leaning down to resume kissing him.

"Persia! Is he... awake... then? I'll just... go... now..." Alphinaud stammered before making as fast an exit from the room as he had entered it. "I'll just lock this door for you..." he mumbled, pushing Urianger back who had also been about to enter the room. "Nope! He's still sleeping. We can come back later!" Hades heard the elezen nearly shouting from the other side of the door.

"One of these days, people will learn to knock," Persia mumbled as she shifted their positions, so she was tucked against his side. He wasn't sure when the warrior had decided they were romantically inclined, but he wasn't going to fight it. He wasn't even actually sure if she was entirely conscious of the shift in her actions with him and how much of it was a remnant of her memories as Persephone. Indeed, the position they were laying in had been one of Persephone's favorites. Could muscle memory be retained after centuries and dozens of reincarnations? An appealing thought that Hades would have to explore later.

Regardless of her actions being a result of Persephone's or her own doing, Hades was on board for the changes. While his warrior was not the Persephone he had loved, he felt the same spark with Persia that he had with her. He'd been drawn to the fiery warrior he never seemed to be able to predict the actions of, quite enjoyed that he never knew what he was going to find when he’d see her next.

"Aside from changing your form every few days then, what have you been doing?" He finally asked, daring to pull his fingers through her currently short hair. He was afraid she'd startle at any moment and remember who she had snuggled up next to. She didn't seem to precisely like reminders that acting similar to Persephone. He was worried that at any moment she'd leap out of bed, remembering that it had been "her" that had been married to him after all, not herself.

Instead, the warrior seemed to laugh for a moment before beginning to tell him all about how proud he'd been that she'd summoned Primals while he was unconscious but that, "Oops, I summoned Leviathan with two heads instead of one. I can't help it that my mind slipped to how I'd had to dodge from two different directions and forgot that one had been his tail!" and that the Titan she'd summoned had looked a bit like the car instead of just hitting her like one.

He wasn't sure if the warrior even noticed when he began to fall back asleep or if that had been her goal all along. He heard her whispered words, however. Sleep overcame him before he could adequately process the words she'd said to him, and he'd forgotten all about it when he woke up again later to find her, Urianger and Y'shtola prodding at his soul to confirm that everything was as it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to keeeeep writing into the void of Ao3 until I stop feeling compelled to write about the dumb things I like to do on my WoL. Up next, we likely jump forward to taking place after the first chapter and discuss how the WoL is a creep who likes to people-watch in Limsa.


	5. A material girl, Living in a material world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Warrior of Light owns too many things and isn't above telling the Architect of an entire civilization to turn into a Shoebill when the situation requires it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that time I couldn't spell Miqo'te right? Good tiiimess...

Persia was tossing items out of her clothing chest and onto the floor when Hades came into what has essentially become 'their' room in the Crystarium. "No. No. No! Where is that one shirt with the silver things..." Persia muttered as she nearly knocked Hades in the head with a pair of boots.

"Warrior, if you're doing to be throwing all your clothes on the floor I'd hope it was because you were undressing for illicit activities, and not because you were determined to find the shirt you are already wearing." Hades kicked a few of the clothes back in her direction before giving up and snapping his fingers until they were all back in the chest.

"Am I?" The warrior said, looking down at herself. "Well, that explains why I couldn't find it," she said, digging through the chest again. Hades sighed before offering, "What are you looking for now?"

"My black pants and those knee-high silver boots." Persia looked at him imploringly, and the Architect snapped his fingers, the items appearing in her hands. "Are you quite finished making a mess of our room?"

"Yes," Persia responded, skipping over to kiss Hades before beginning to strip off her remaining clothes. Hades merely sat back and watched. If she was going to put on a show, he wasn't about to complain, but he still had no idea what she was getting ready for in the first place.

"Where are you going?" They'd rarely separated since Hades had awakened after the tempering had been removed from his soul. It wasn't that Hades didn't like to be alone, but her nearly complete soul had been soothing for him to be around while his own healed. While her Scion friends tolerated him at this point, few of them other than Ryne and the female elezen had defrosted enough to stop looking at him like he was about to kill their puppy. He knew they'd saved him at his warrior's plea, and it was a testament to their faith in her that they'd done as she'd asked despite their feelings toward him.

" _ We _ are going back to the Source, and we are going to ensure everyone that I'm still alive, that the Scions are merely sequestered at Headquarters, and then we are going to the Moonfire festival. ItsstartsonbybirthdayandIwanttoseethefireworks." Hades couldn't help but notice that somewhere in the jumbled sentence she'd sped through at the end that he'd heard 'birthday' and 'fireworks.' 

"Are  _ we  _ now?" He said in response, stressing we in the sentence just as much as she had been.

"Yes. I mean, please? I mean, it's my birthday, and I can party if I want to?" Hades laughed, pointing out "Yes, but nothing says  _ I _ have to party on your birthday. But very well, your gift from me shall be my presence. I do wonder, however, how you expect Solus zos Galvus to be received when traipsing through Costa del Sol?"

"I've thought about that, and I have two ideas. For the first, Shoebill! For the second, it's been what, 60+ years since anyone has seen young Solus? Can't you, you know, *snap* your fingers and glamour yourself to look different enough?"

"If I could glamour myself with a *snap* of my fingers, do you think Lahabrea would have bothered to take control of that gunblade-toting grumpy man you are ‘friends’ with? I can shape a body I possess to look as I desire, but it's so much work. Not to mention it takes time, and a  _ body. _ "

Persia muttered "His name is Thancred, you jerk, and you wonder why he still hates you," with the Architect completely ignoring her, before saying, "Alright then. You can wear a hood."

"Saviour of the Free Worlds, Ladies and Gentlemen, and her solution is 'wear a hood."

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

"No, we'll try your extremely sophisticated method, but how do you plan to explain a Shoebill, a creature which does not occur on the Source following you around." At this, Persia merely shrugged her shoulders. 

"I hate to break it to you Emet-Selch, but I'm kind of a  _ big deal _ on the Source. Y'know. I am the Warrior of Light and all. While I might not GET PAID ANY REAL MONEY FOR SAVING THE WORLD - " Persia shouted, hoping that someone would overhear her. There was always the chance that someone would FINALLY pay her for saving their butts time after time. "But it's not that weird for me to be toting around strange creatures." She pointedly looked at him while she said "strange creatures" but also gestured to aether pocket where he knew she kept an unusual amount of creatures indeed.

Honestly, even if she hadn't practically given away who she was when they met by throwing a shoe at him the moment he'd appeared in front of the Scions, he imagined that he'd have guessed sooner or later. The average soul could not store a hundred and forty items on their person of varying weights and sizes, nor store on their person enough gear for a small contingent.

Hades couldn't help but glare at the wind-up G'raha Tia that she'd had out currently. There was something off-putting about a wind-up version of the Miqo'te that already watched her enough. Hades had to annoy her at night to put it away before they slept, and he knew at this point she was doing it to annoy him. The next time she wasn’t looking, he was kicking it into a river.

"Fine. Let's go and get this over with. But when we get back, I fully expect a day of lazing around in bed. All this walking is going to be exhausting."

"You're going to be spending nearly half the time as a bird. That flies."

"Flying still requires work, Dear Heart." He said, know the endearment would cause the warrior to blush. She managed to resist when he called her 'Dear Warrior' as a Miq'ote, but she hadn't yet succeeded with that with his new version. He'd have to think of even more ways to embarrass her when she got used to this version.

"Ugggh, lets just goooooo. I already left a note with Ryne,-" 

"Who?"

"It's not working Hades, I know you know which one Ryne is, you're the one that slipped her that bag of candy thirty minutes before she was supposed to be asleep!" 

"How was I supposed to know that the oaf had given her a bedtime? She could barely tell he liked her until recently!"

Their dispute continued as Persia resorted to merely dragging him along behind her, which suited Hades just fine since it meant less work on his part. "G'raha Tia has the portal waiting for us. We've already kept him waiting for like an hour," 

"I'm pretty sure you kept him waiting for an hour while you looked for clothes. I didn't even know we were going anywhere until you hit me in the face with a boot. You seem to hit me in the face with a lot of shoes actually," Hades said, staring at her feet suspiciously.

"Maybe it shouldn’t be so kickable,” Persia snarked back at him, before letting out a cheery, “Hey, G'raha!" once they finally managed to make it to the portal. "Sorry, sorry. You know how it is getting an Ascian to do anything, they always have to bicker about it first."

"I'm not sure that moniker actually even applies to be anymore."

"Does it not?" Persia asked, stopping with one hand about to enter the portal, the other waving goodbye at the Tia. "I thought Ascian was like, your species."

"I suppose it could be qualified as such these days. Does that mean you could technically turn into one?" Hades asked as he pushed her through the portal before following himself, enjoying the 'Eep!' the warrior made as she tripped through the aether.

"Uuulllppp. I wouldn't advise rolling through the portal to anyone. I think I'm going to be sick. But to answer your question, no, I don't think so. I think a Roegaden is as close as I'm getting, and that’s just size-wise." When Persia gagged Hades merely turned her into the direction of a wall. She'd be fine. Probably. Now that they were back on the Source, Hades could feel the influx of additional aether pooling around him. He grasped the warrior by the arm before portaling them to the room she kept in Limsa Lominsa.

"Wow, Warrior. You have... excellent decorating skills." He said, looking around. There was a bed shoved into a corner, a desk in the middle of the room covered in papers, an old sandwich that might be a new lifeform at this stage, and a fish tank containing fish that were somehow, still alive. There might also be a dresser underneath what he could roughly make out as a veritable mountain of gear and weapons.

"Shaddup." She said, beginning to look less faintly green as she took a seat on a pile of mail. "It serves its purpose. You try mastering different combat methods, multiple ways to craft, and two methods of gathering and then tell me where you keep all stuff. I have  _ six  _ different retainers working for me, and even they have refused to hold anything else. That does remind me though," Persia said before throwing her gun somewhere into the mass of weapons, ignoring the way it shot off in the process before digging into the pile and pulling out a pair of chakrams and a crystal. 

"The Faire always has a jumping puzzle. My dancer gear is the least bulky. Ok. Bird now!" She said, gesturing at him and flapping her arms. Hades rolled his eyes, something he'd done far more lately than he was sure he'd done in any of her previous lifetimes before reluctantly acquiescing to her demands.

Hades trailed distantly behind the Warrior as she walked into Limsa Lominsa, waving and greeting what seemed to be nearly half the city. She talked to each person, eventually settling on the inside of the pillar nearest the aetheryte. She seemed to be merely sitting, but he knew that she was making her presence known in the city, letting people observe that the Warrior of Light was here and not in a rush. The burst of people eventually waned away until Persia was merely waving to the occasional adventurer she'd met at one point or another before she hopped up from her position and teleported over to the Aftcastle. She asked around about the Faire for a bit before waving him closer and teleporting into Costa Del Sol, dragging him along in the process.

"Alright, bird. It's time for you to become a man!" She said, looking down at him. “You can go change over behind those bushes." Persia pointed to an incredibly short hedge. Hades wasn't sure if a Shoebill could glare any more than their typical amount, but he sure tried before flying off to a more appropriate location before turning as himself again, wearing their agreed-upon disguise.

This was going to be interesting; Hades thought as the warrior dragged him toward a booth selling alcohol. He hadn't seen her drunk yet, and their siesta in the Source seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out what she was like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, we see what Emet-Selch is like at the Moonfire Faire, probably! I can just imagine him kicking back and "fishing" but not actually bothering to cast the lure or pull the fish in even if the WoL did it for him.


	6. Drink, Drank, Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just the WoL getting a bit tipsy, and a jealous Ascian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fewf, I must've started nearly 4 different possible chapters to write. This one sort've got mashed together from two different ones.

"Hadddeeeeeessssssssssss, I need more allleeee." Persia slurred out, half leaning on the Architect.

"My Dear Warrior, as much as I would love to watch you make a fool of yourself, that's probably not a great idea." Hades promptly turned the warrior to prevent her from running into a pole. And then from tripping over a bench. And then from running into a group of her adoring fans. "I think now might be a good time to cut you off."

"Nuuuuu! Taday meh day offfff. No sober. Where Thancred, he'll *hic* get me more!" Hades snickered as Persia attempted to escape his grasp but succeed mostly in spinning in a circle. "Your large friend isn't even on the Source right now, Warrior. I doubt you'll be able to convince his unconscious form to do much."

"Nerp, that was no good idea." she'd said before promptly vomiting into a bush. If she had listened when he told her that she should eat this wouldn't have been a problem. Between the alcohol now and her trip through the portal this morning, the warrior's head would be thanking her the following morning.

They'd spent the Faire lazing about for the most part, and Hades had watched as the warrior in her dancer form easily conquered the jumping challenge before pointlessly trying the 'hard version.' She'd tried to convince him to catch the fish they needed for tickets as well, to little success. 

Hades was very good at the part where he got to sit on the shore doing nothing, but apparently, he was supposed to 'cast the line' and 'reel in the fish already you old man, I thought it just naturally came to people your age.' Persia had pouted for a minute until Hades had reluctantly snapped his fingers and provided her with the necessary fish.

Somehow throughout the evening, Hades had become responsible for carrying half the warrior's belongings, and it was only because it was her birthday that he resisted conveniently dropping them into the nearby bonfire.

"Hadessss. I think... I might be drunk."

"'Might be,' is a bit of an understatement, Dear Warrior. I think you've drunk nearly a keg at this point. Do you usually drink so much?"

"Nouppe. Juss wannted ta have fun wit you. 'Cept your stoopid Asian body can't even git drunk."

Her statement moderately touched Hades. While it was true that he couldn't get drunk, he hadn't realized what she'd been trying to do as she bought him drink after drink. Eventually, he'd begun pouring them into her glass when she wasn't looking, so technically he was partially responsible for her situation. 

His warrior was currently curled up on the ground, looking like a sad house cat. With a sigh, he scooped up the warrior and walked away from the crowd, opening a portal and returning them to her apartment. Hades placed her on the bed before reluctantly using up more of the aether that had slowly been returning to him, snapping his fingers again producing a potion he knew would help her with the hangover she'd have in the morning.

Hunting around, he eventually found a wastebasket that didn't look like it was a home for a small creature placing it on the side of the bed.

\----------------

"Am I dead?" Persia asked in the morning, burying her head further beneath the pillow she'd thrown over her head at the first sign of sunlight.

"Not this time, Dear Heart. Here, drink." Hades was unburying the girl and shoving the potion in her hand. Persia looked at him considering for a moment before chugging it down.

"That. That tastes horrible. Somewhere between feet and fish. But ooooh everything has stopped being too bright and loud. What was that?"

"An old cure for hangovers I invented."

"You can't even get drunk!" Persia said, still pouting about the fact.

"No, but other races can. Just because I'm not affected by something doesn't mean we didn't find a solution for it."

Persia seemed to consider that for a moment. "We should sell it."

"Yes, Warrior lets just sell vials full of items that haven't existed in the world in centuries."

"Damnit. You cheated then. But still, thank you."

"You're quite welcome. Now, my  _ Dearest Warrior _ , you can answer me a question: Who is ‘Hien,’ why were you saying his name in your sleep last night, and where do I find him so I can kill him?" Hades smiled, watching as Persia paled in response before giving him a delighted look.

"First, Hien is the Prince of Doma. You know, that kingdom that your empire keeps trying to crush under its boot." Hades sniffed, waving his hand for her to continue. "Second, that's none of your business. Third, you can not kill Hien, and he's one of my dearest friends."

"Hmmm. It sounds like it would be pretty easy to convince Zenos to kill him then." Persia let out a laugh. "Good luck. Zenos is obsessed with little other than me and trying to convince him to do nearly anything other than 'fight the Warrior of Light' is next to impossible."

"Dear Warrior, how have you gained the attention of just quite so many men? As far as I can tell all you do is wander around between place to place nearly homelessly and fight whatever you're pointed at."

"I mean, that's pretty accurate, but I dunno, I guess some men just appreciate my superior fighting skills." Persia leveled a grin at him from the bed, clearly implying that she  _ had _ beat him the last time they’d fought.

"If I wasn't still healing you know very well I would have crushed you in that last duel."

"Sure, sure. Maybe you can't keep up in your old age." Hades rolled his eyes, but delighted in the cheerful and riled up way her soul looked when she was teasing him, or he insulted her fighting skills. Truthfully, with nearly three-quarters of her soul, the Warrior was likely an equal match with him. Given that Persephone had been one of their best fighters and Persia seemed to near breathe 'fight me,' it shouldn't have surprised him. It was entirely possible he'd lose.

"I have another question."

"Yesss?" Persia was attempting to unbury herself from the mound of blankets she’d tangled her in, and while Hades could’ve helped, he enjoyed watching her suffer just a little bit. Especially since she was mostly unclothed. How she had managed to undress in the middle of the night was moderately impressive, especially since she hadn’t woken him up doing so.

"How do you not have a trillion scars?" Hades asked, looking Persia over, eyes lingering on her back and chest.

"Whaddya mean?" Persia asked, shirt halfway over her head. She was digging through her pile of clothes, and Hades tried not to judge at the way she smelled each item to see if it was clean or not.

"I have seen you die, warrior." Hades ignored the brief tightening of his throat.

"Oh. It's the echo or whatever. When I come back, I'm as good as new. Sometimes I'm stronger until I finish the fight, but if it happens too many times I get a bit aether sick, but it's weird. I've got this scar here - " Persia pointed to the one that was across her nose. Oddly, the scar seemed to follow her even when she changed forms yet again, "and a few others, but if I actually y'know, die, then poof, no scars."

"That's ridiculous. So if you were ever going to get a nasty scar, you could go just off yourself, and it'd be gone?"

"Yes and no. She's never said anything, but I feel like Hydaelyn," Persia ignored the brief flash of distaste that crossed Hades' face. While she may have swayed Hades to stop rejoining the shards, he still wasn't exactly fond of her primal. Persia wasn't sure if it was the millennia he'd spent hating her or the reminder of just how the primal had been summoned to begin with. "Wouldn't exactly appreciate it if I abused her power. She's been getting weaker, and there's not exactly a way to tell if my next death would be permanent this time. I do also y'know, remember the dying as well. Did you know dying hurts?" Persia wrinkled her nose, trying to recall if she'd ever died without it hurting most likely.

"Hydealyn is getting weaker."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It's been an age since I've heard from her, but that might, er, actually be my fault."

"Whatever do you mean, Dear Warrior?"

"Look, Hydaelyn was created from Persephone, and the other remaining Ancient’s will, right? Well, I've got most of my bits at this point, which means that I'm drawing that aether away from her. I just assumed that as other souls on the Source began to gather together again that she was also losing aether from them. I know loads've adventurers that are far stronger than the average person on the Source, my guess is that they're mostly former Ancients."

"That's an interesting theory. Warrior, has this Hien seen your scars?"

"Wow, you're still on that, huh? Hades, whatever was in the past, is in the past. I'm not judging you for the women," she said, giving him a significant glance, "you've been with in the past, I'd expect the same from you."

"Ah, hah! So you admit it!"

"I admit nothing, other than that yes there have been people, but that no I don't foresee there being anybody else in my future but an incredibly lazy Architect who hasn't even bothered designing anything fun lately."

Hades rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll design something. Do you have requests?"

"Ooh, yeessss."

Hades sighed. "I'm going to spend the next hour Creating you different weapons and armors, aren't I?"

"Yep! That's what you get for being a jealous brat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean I'm not definitely saying the WoL slept with Hien but I'm not not saying it either.


	7. Lives and breathes like a girl from another world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feeeeeelings.
> 
> Hades is a lot of things, but none of those things seem to be confident in the WoL's feelings about him.

"Tell me about him," Hades said, laying in their bed next to Persia in the Crystarium.

"Tell you about whooooo?" Persia asked, rolling over and cuddling close to him. They'd spent the day doing very little, still enjoying what short time they had left before Persia would be expected to once again don the cape of the Warrior of Light and Darkness. She knew Hades would fight by her side, but thinking of it still made her feel anxious.

"This man you were with previously," Hades replied, looking just about anywhere but at Persia. The fact that he'd drawn her closer let her know that Hades wasn't just trying to rile her up, something else was at play here.

"It's been a few people, honestly. Male, female, it didn't matter at first, I was just trying to find someone who helped the loneliness go away."

"Hm." He'd said. Persia turned his head, so he was looking at her for a moment. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"It may surprise you to know, Warrior, that I don't exactly know how you feel about me." Persia gave Hades a  _ look  _ at his statement, gesturing at their current position before softening once more.

"Do you think I commit myself to just anyone then?" She asked, soul coiling tightly.

"That's just it; I don't know. I don't know what made you even decide that I was worth more than just saving."

"Oh, Hades. How can you not see how I look at you?" Persia responded, pulling him closer for a kiss. "You have to know how you make me feel. I know you can see it in my soul." Hades' own was a tightly coiled ball at the moment, and it worried Persia that she hadn't even noticed how long it had been doing so. Typically Hades was all confidence, and his soul showed as much.

"Hades, even if I hadn't had Persephone's memories of you, I would've fallen for you all on my own." Persia laughed, "You're exactly my type after all."

The warrior moved so she was straddling Hades, kissing him after every statement. "You're confident." She said, kissing him on the cheek. "You're smart," she kissed him on the forehead, "impossibly, you make me laugh," a kiss to his nose, making Persia giggle when he scrunched it up in response, "you're kind," a kiss to the other cheek, and ignoring the way he meant to protest being called "kind", she said "and you understand me." She finished, giving him a long kiss on the lips.

"Do you know how rare it is for someone to understand that I have to throw myself headfirst into danger? That I am perfectly capable of taking myself, but that yes, I do like to be taken care of once in a while? Even more than that, you don't...." Persia trailed off momentarily, trying to find the words she needed, "you don't fear me, I guess?"

"Whyever would I fear you, M'dear Warrior?" He asked, petting her hair and drawing her in for another kiss. His soul was beginning to wander once more, stroking up against Persia's in the most delightful way.

"I'm the Warrior of Light, Hades. I know to you, it's just a title, and it doesn't mean much-" 

"Now that's not quite true," Hades interrupted, but Persia continued anyway, "but it means a lot to all the people out there." She said, gesturing toward the door where on the otherwise was a city and a nation of people who would drop anything at her request. 

"They might not precisely fear me, not the Scions at least, but they don't understand me, either. Most of them will likely never know what it's like to have lived for millennia. They try, but they will never understand why I will tirelessly try and convince Elidibus that there's another way. They don't have the memories of the countless times he'd return from a journey, always with a new book or story to tell. Time after time after time, that Lahabrea, you and Persephone would stay up long into the night debating something before eventually calling in Hythlodaeus to give the final opinion. Those memories are precious to me, that semblance of a family was all I had for a while after my parents died."

"We did that though," Hades replied, soul beginning to compact once more. Persia reached out mentally to try and coax it back.

It was something she was still struggling with, doing more than just seeing souls was hard, and reaching out took nearly her full attention. She sent a mental stroke back against his own, something akin to a hug.

"No, you didn't. Zodiark did that." Persia could tell he wasn't satisfied with the response from the furrow of those expressive eyebrows, "I'm sure that part of it was you," she said, holding a finger to his lips before he could respond. If she didn't get this out now, it was unlikely that she ever would, "and I'm sure there are people who will hold it against you, but I can't." she said, smiling sadly. 

"Do I miss my parents? Of course. Am I absolutely determined to make sure nothing like it happens ever again? Yes. But the logical part of you, the part of you that only summoned Zodiark in the first place to save our planet? That part of you was gone." She leaned down to hug him both in body and soul, "and I could see it when I was near. Whenever the light was strong enough to push Zodiark back enough that I could see  _ you  _ again."

"Thank you." Hades finally responded, arms reaching up to draw her closer.

"Anytime," Persia said with a smile. "Now. Do me."

Hades laughed before Persia realized what she'd said.

"Why my Dear Heart, I believe you're turning as red as poor Alphinaud did while you were in Amh Araeng and he forgot to use a sun spell."

"Noooo Hades, that's not what I meannnnnt." Persia whined in response. "I mean, " she said with a gulp, "why do... this." She said, gesturing to herself.

Hades snickered in response as Persia groaned, burying her head against his chest. "YknowwhatImean," she said, refusing to look at him.

"I think, perhaps," He said, "for all the reasons you said you loved me earlier. You are an absolute force to be reckoned with, my Dear Warrior. I have never seen anyone who cares as much as you do about everyone. Even at the end of the day, when everything hurts you so much that your soul is about to be shattered into a thousand pieces," Persia could see Hades' long swallow at the memory of how close she had been to losing the battle with the light aether, "you continue to fight for what you believe in. You continue to lift everyone around you, and you are impossible to not believe in. And lastly, because for some reason," Hades said with a laugh, "you love me too."

"...you love me?" Persia asked, popping up on her arms, heart racing inside her chest. She'd known, sort've, how he felt, based on the feel of his soul against her own, but she'd never known how much of that had been his feelings for Persephone and how much of it had been for her.

"How could I not, Dear Heart?" he asked, giving his a lingering kiss. Persia poured her feelings into the kiss as she reciprocated, and she knew the delight in her soul was positively sparkling when Hades huffed a laugh.

"I love you too," Persia responded, positively beaming in delight.

"Great. Now let's get lunch." Hades responded, ducking when she pouted and went to smack at him, but blushed when her stomach rumbled loudly.

"I'm not even going to ask how you knew that I was hungry but finnneee. But you're buying." She said, dragging them both out of bed.

"Fine, but only because I know you're broke." Hades laughed again as Persia pouted following him out the door. "It's not my fault I'm broke! Crafting takes so lonnnnng."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been on vacation! In which we paused the fun for a bit of feelings.


	8. Never go to bed angry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out that Hades might be an ancient being, but he can still be made to sleep on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been debating between re-writing some of the existing chapters and replacing them in place, or if I should reorder the chapters into chronological order, or if I should just keep on writing the chapters as they come. Does anyone have any thoughts?

"What shard were you originally in charge of?" Persia asked as they packed for a more extended sojourn to the Source than the day trips they had been going on. Or, Persia packed, Hades watching as he was mostly slumped into a chair. Occasionally he levitated something into the bag she was packing. He enjoyed the way she'd periodically remove an item before muttering about her retainers striking already before eventually putting it back in, grumbling about how it was worth more on the Source.

"I was responsible for the seventh calamity," He said softly, knowing the conclusion the warrior would eventually come to. That umbral calamity was responsible for killing her parents, and he had essentially just admitted he'd killed them.

"Of course," Persia said, sitting down softly on her bed. "I'm sorry, that was a stupid question. With Dalamud being what it was, it should've been obvious."

"It was why I was so surprised at first," Hades began after a long moment, "that you were so willing to give me a chance. But fool though I am, I'd thought you'd chose to ignore it."

Persia remained silent on the bed. Her soul was small and fragmented at the moment, leaving it nearly impossible for Hades to read. She'd been getting better lately, he thought with a frown, at hiding her feelings from him. The moment stretched on, and Hades realized that perhaps his presence was not precisely required at the moment when he heard his warrior give a small sniffle. After a pause, Hades opened the door to their rooms before stalking down the hallway. A few shouts later as Hades continued to fail to open the right door, and he found one of the Scions. Ignoring Alisaie's muttered curse at him and panicked grabbing in the direction of her rapier, he shoved her into the room with Persia before opening up a portal and stepping through it, entirely missing the start Persia gave at the sound or the way she'd half leaped off the bed after him.

\------------------------

"You," Persia shouted nearly two and a half months later, breaking in through the door to his home in Garlemald, soaked in snow, "are the biggest idiot I have EVER MET EMET-SELCH."

Hades had nearly jumped out of his skin at her sudden intrusion into his home. He'd spent the last month doing extremely little, and most of the time had been wallowing. Given their previous interaction, he was pretty sure the warrior wouldn't want to see him again, let alone bust her way into his house.

"Do you even know how hard it was to find your house? How many favors I had to call in to get smuggled into the country in the first place? In case you've forgotten during your little siesta here on the Source, they don't exactly like me here in the Garlean Empire you complete ass."

"Hello?"

"No, don't you 'Hello' me, Emet-Selch, the only thing I want to hear from you is 'Hello love, I'm terribly sorry that my actions while possessed killed your parents, and I accept that I am an utter asshat for dropping that bombshell on you before LEAVING."

Hades could do little more than blink in the moment that followed. He'd expected a lot of things from the warrior, but her actions thus far had left him mostly perplexed. The idea that she wouldn't hold him accountable for all the deaths he'd caused was not one he'd considered. Persia however, must have seen how stunned his soul was, as she merely began to shed the layers of clothing that surrounded her, dropping something that seemed suspiciously like his jacket perilously close to the fire he had going, before she sat down nearly in the fire as well.

"It took me three weeks of practicing with Y'shtola to even figure out roughly where you were, you know. And if you don't recall in that tiny brain of yours Y'shtola doesn't even like you very much. I had to remind her that you'd fished her out of the lifestream before she'd even agree to let me find you and I will _ put you in it _ unless you stop just sitting there looking at me."

"I apologize if my actions were an inconvenience to you, warrior. I had not expected you to desire my presence at the time."

"Bullshit." Hades watched as Persia's tail swung angrily back and forth around her, ears flattened to her head. "You were a coward, Emet-Selch. You were afraid, and I get it, but it doesn't change the fact that when I needed you, you just left. You can't just leave when you think we're about to argue. I am not Persephone. I never will be. Even if I regain all the parts of my soul, I will not turn into her. My actions have shaped who I am just as surely as yours have changed you since those days. You are not the person you were with Persephone."

"I know that."

"Do you? Do you honestly?" Persia stood up and as she spoke, began gathering up the plates and cups that lingered throughout the room, wandering through the house until she found his kitchen.

"Discovering that you were the one directly responsible for the seventh calamity sucked Emet-Selch, and I'm sorry if I needed a moment or two to process it. But you knew, no, you know I don't blame you for your actions while you were tempered. Honestly, it sucks, yes, but what hurt way more than that was the fact that you just left." Persia now seemed to be reorganizing his plants, watering the ones that appeared to be a bit dry, rotating some closer to and further from the windows. It was entirely perplexing to watch her simultaneously tear him apart while also taking care of his home.

"Are you cleaning?" He tentatively asked, and if he were asked later, would deny momentarily cringing at the look of death her eyes promised at the question. He was Emet-Selch, he didn't cower before tiny cats. Except maybe he did, for this one, Hades thought, sinking further into his chair.

"Are you serious? Out of everything you could say you ask if I'm cleaning?" Persia had paused, mid-plant.

"Yes?" Hades answered as the Warrior of Light huffed and turned away. Her doing so gave him a clear view of her back, upon which laid a long pink scar that hadn't been there the last time he'd seen her.

"What happened?" He asked, standing up for the first time since she'd arrived and approached her. He'd reached out to touch the scar, trying not to wince when she deftly shifted away. He deserved that. He probably deserved everything she was going to dish out to him, and more come to think of it.

"A battle. If you do recall before your disappearing act, we were supposed to visit the Source and 'encourage' the Garleans to retreat entirely into the empire. It turns out, they were feeling disagreeable." Hades flinched at the reminder at what he'd left her to do, alone. He'd known that none of the Scions were able to easily travel back and forth between the Source and the First just yet, and his leaving had meant she'd been at the mercy of the empire he'd created with but the few friends she had in the Doman and Ala Mhigan armies. The last time she'd done so, Zenos had nearly killed her.

"I don't know if my word has any value to you at this point, but I am sorry."

At his words, some of the fight seemed to go out of the warrior. She slowly lowered the broom she'd started aggressively sweeping with before turning and surprising him with a bone-crushing hug before pulling back and punching him in the face.

"...I deserved that." Well. That certainly explained why when the warrior had shown up she'd been wearing her monk gear even though she'd specifically told him she barely practiced the technique anymore. He'd be sporting the outline of her knuckles for awhile.

"Yes. You did." Persia said, walking over to the icebox and withdrawing a few ice aspected aether crystals. She wrapped them in a nearby cloth before handing the bundle to him. Hades fiddled with it for a minute before the warrior loosed a long sigh and took his hand holding the ice and placed it over his eye.

"It's been that long since you've had a black eye that I take it that you've forgotten how to take care of yourself," Persia said with the same gruff voice she had everything else, but Hades saw the small wisp of her soul that was amused.

"It might surprise you to know that not many a warrior has employed the same tactics as you have my dear," Hades replied, voice trailing off at the endearment.

"For Hydaelyn's sake Hades," The warrior replied, throwing her hands up in the air, "you don't even know how to do this part, do you? One of us says or does something stupid, we fight,  _ neither of us leaves _ ," Persia said, glaring at Hades all the while, "one of us might be sleeping on the couch for a while," she added, making it clear just who that would be for the foreseeable future, "but we talk it out. One of us probably apologizes, and then we get on with our lives. Together. Not with one of us in the middle of a freaking cabin in the godsdamned snow in the  _ enemy's _ territory! And do not-" Persia said when Hades was about to interrupt her, "tell me that it is not your enemy's territory Emet-Selch, or you can sleep outside tonight." Hades shut his mouth.

"Very well. Persia. Warrior of the Light and Dark. My Dearest Heart. For being as dumb as the pile of rocks that make up Titan," the part of Hades that hadn't really even breathed properly since he'd walked away from the warrior inhaled at the small smile on her lips, "and as blind as Ramuh probably is behind those incredibly bushy eyebrows of his," Hades slowly put down the bundle of ice as he slowly approached the warrior, "I offer my most humble and sincere of apologies for the extremely long list of wrongs I have done to you as of late. Least not with which including that I wasn't there to prevent this from happening," Hades said, reaching toward the scar he could now see must have been a sword that had gone entirely through her. How she'd survived it, he wasn't sure, but she must have for the scar to have lingered.

Hades released a sigh of relief when Persia allowed him to touch her this time; however, she remained still standing just too far enough away from him to allow more than the brief touch.

"Two and a half months, Emet-Selch," Hades frowned at her continued use of his title. The warrior had never bothered to use it, even from the beginning he'd simply been 'Hades' to her. "two and a half months not knowing if you'd ever wanted to be found in the first place, or if I should just accept that you were done with this version of me." Persia swallowed, choking back the tears she'd been trying not to release, "before I decided after the first week that I didn't care what you wanted and that at the very least, I'd earned the right to punch you in the face.” Persia gestured toward his eye, seemingly to also say. “ _ Which I have now done.” _

“Two weeks were cleaning up the mess that was the front-lines - that was where I was fighting the Garleans you see. Two weeks after that recovering from this," Persia gestured toward the scar, "three weeks with Y'shtola and two weeks were trudging through this godsdamned snow, following the traces of your soul here."

Hades mulled over her words for a moment. "I wasn't sure I wanted to be found, not at first. You deserve better than what I've done to you - wait, please," He said as Persia meant to interrupt. "let me finish. You deserve more than the ancient, broken soul that I am. I have done so many wrongs to you and yours, but I am so eternally grateful that for some reason, you continue to let me make up for those wrongs. I promise, Dear Warrior, that I will never leave again unless asked. I owe you that much."

"Good." She said, pushing Hades backward until he was sitting on the chair once more and climbing into his lap like the cat she partly was at the moment. "I'm still incredibly angry at you, you know. But first," Persia covered her mouth as she let out a giant yawn and Hades nearly startled at just how exhausted the warrior seemed to be, body and soul.

"I'm sleepy, and I haven't been able to sleep well since my body pillow abandoned me. We can continue this after my nap." The warrior stated before impossibly but apparently falling immediately asleep in his lap, leaving Hades with little choice but to curl his arms around the warrior and shift her into a more comfortable position for them both.

It was a long while later before Persia blinked sleepy eyes up at him once more, during which Hades was not ashamed to admit he had been afraid to move, and not only because the warrior had a firm grip around him. "Good. You passed the first test. Now," Persia said with grabby hands, "I would like you to begin your groveling with a sandwich, a cup of hot chocolate, and you to do so without snapping your fingers and while telling me about the dumbest things you've done over the last millennia so I can make fun of you about them in front of the Scions. If your stories are good enough, I may decide at the end if you've earned the right to be called by your name again, Emet-Selch."

"Yes Mam," Hades said, shifting so that he could stand up and placing the warrior back onto the chair they'd been sleeping in. "Have I told you about the one time Lahabrea, Persephone and I thought we could convince Elidibus..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! I said to myself, I'll write a fluffy, funny chapter!
> 
> *2 hours later*
> 
> Oh nooooo..... what have I done.


	9. These aren't my people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a lil shortly to get back into writing for this WoL and Hades. <.<

Persia looked down at the Shoebill trailing her through the dungeon, “You know, minions don’t normally come to these,” she said with a snicker, easily clearing her way through the dungeon. A junior adventurer she knew had needed help, and Persia was pretty sure she could make her way through this one in her sleep.

The look Hades sent her in response pretty clearly said “Does it look like I care?”, and Persia snickered again, off-handedly tossing another cure to the fledgling warrior. She rarely had the desire to use her white mage gear these days, and she kept getting thrown off at how un-protected she felt in the robes. Especially without being able to cast Protect anymore, for some strange reason. Still, the young adventurer had gotten  _ so _ excited at being able to run a dungeon with her, she hadn’t been able to say no, even if she was ridiculously bored.

It was...odd to be using this particular gear set around Hades. It was the one that easily connected her the most to Persephone, and typically Persia preferred to be as far away from her previous incarnation as possible. It wasn’t that she  _ hated _ Persephone, it’s just that it often felt like Persephone was this older sister she’d never live up to.

Soon enough, after she’d dodged the flailing tentacles for the hundredth time, they’d subdued the Kraken, and she was back in her apartment in Limsa. Hades the Shoebill had disappeared behind a changing screen and reappeared as Hades the man.

“Are you ever going to let me see you do that?” Persia asked, digging through her pile of armor. She needed to do  _ anything _ other than heal for a bit. Oooh her Dark Knight gear was shoved somewhere under her dragoon gear, that was definitely a change.

“Are you ever going to let me see you swap races?” He countered, idly watching as she stripped off robes and replaced them with heavy armor.

“I  _ had _ been considering trying out Roegadyn, and I probably will, but I like that I fit riiight here though,” Persia stood up and walked into Hades’ arms, tucking herself under his chin.

“I will admit, tis pretty nice. Answer me this, Dear Warrior, why bother with these adventurers? Tis not as if you don’t spend enough time fighting, and you scarcely seem to like healing, as you leave that up to the male elezens.”

“Alphinaud and Urianger,” Persia said, looking at him pointedly. He was going to have to learn their names eventually, “but I don’t know. I suppose that I appreciated it a lot when older adventurers took care of me when I was still learning. I  _ don’t _ like healing, but sometimes that’s what they need help with. Besides, we’re in the same Free Company, and we have to stick together.”

“They are… different. Your free company members.” Hades had seen her interact with several of them during the dungeon, watching from a nearby perch.

“Well, yes.” Persia said, momentarily considering, “I told you already I thought adventurers are some of the souls most likely to be the remaining Ancients from the sacrifice. They’re stronger than the typical person, and they’re great to have in a pinch. They help out a lot when the Scions can’t. There’s also the fact that they took me in when others cast me out.”

“You were cast out from a Free Company?” Hades laughed, and Persia looked up at him, pulling Hades down momentarily for a kiss. She was  _ cozy _ all snuggled up in his arms, even if the fur on his jacket was getting in her nose.

“Yeah. It’s actually why I was kind of homeless for a while. I had a room at the free company house with all my stuff in it, and then when I dared to take an extended break from fighting after the primals, they kicked me out, and poof~ there went all my stuff. It was a long time after that before I found a new group I could trust, and even longer before I scraped up enough money again to even afford this place.”

“If you’d like, I could just make them poof~ out of existence.”

Persia snickered, “No. They’re not worth it really. Besides, can you imagine what it must be like for them now? Not to brag, but I am the  _ Warrior of Light _ , Warrior of Warriors, Slayer of Gods, Hero of Eorzea, and they  _ kicked me out _ .”

“Is that even all your titles?” He asked, kissing the top of her head.

“No. I’m also the Warrior of Darkness as you very well know,  _ thank you _ , Bringer of Light, The Eikon Slayer, The Liberator (from  _ your _ empire),” she momentarily broke off, smirking at the glare Hades was sending down her way, “Slayer of Gods, Champion of Eorzea, Hydaelyn’s Chosen and oooh, a few more. But I’m also a Flame Captain in the Immortal Flames.”

“A mere one or two. Do you truly hold a rank in the army?”

“I do! I’m actually really proud of that. I worked my way up from the bottom before I’d even done half that other stuff. Even if I stopped being the Warrior of Light and all that other stuff, I’d still be a Flame Captain. That one I got because I’m  _ me _ , and not because of Hydaelyn, y’know?”

Persia didn’t mention that it was also the title she didn’t bear because of  _ Persephone _ . For all that  _ she  _ had been the one to fight the primals, those had been done because of her place as the Warrior of Light, not because of her rank as an adventurer. It was why she relaxed around her free company as well, they never treated her any different from everyone else.

Suddenly, Persia was glad for the arms wrapped around her as a sudden burst of dizziness overtook her.   
  


“Woh,” she said, gripping onto Hades’ arms.

“Getting lightheaded at my mere presence now?” Hades asked, but the face looking down at her was furrowed in concern.

“I don’t know what that was. One minute I was fine, the next everything just sort’ve  _ shifted _ . It was like I was here and somewhere else at the same time. Ack!” Persia cried as Hades shifted to carrying her. He’d swooped her up in his arms and was carrying her bridal style over to her bed, grunting when he kicked one of the many surrounding her bed.

“It hasn’t been that long since you nearly died from an over-abundance of aether, and while your healing magic is also light focused, you hardly strained yourself.” He’d set her on the bed, and began shredding the armor she’d  _ just _ put on. “Sleep.”

Persia wanted to protest, but the dizzy spell had honestly left her exhausted. “Alright. But where are you going?” she asked, frowning when he opened a portal.

“I’m fetching one of your little friends to watch you while I do some investigating of my own. Elidibus has been  _ quiet _ lately, and I do not trust that this isn’t his doing.”

“Ok. Be safe. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Bring Alisaie, she’ll snuggle with me. Try not to mix up the twins. Alphy does  _ not _ snuggle.” Persia missed the eye-roll he sent her in response, as she was attempting to burrow herself in as many blankets as possible. She heard the brief sound of the portal closing, and then opening again awhile later.

“Take  _ care _ of her, or I will leave you in the abyss of space.”

“It would be easier to if you’d told me what  _ happened _ ,” She heard Alisaie protest, but felt the bed press down nevertheless.

“I do not know, but I fully intend to find out. She does not appear to be sick, but she was also far too agreeable-”

Hades must’ve continued from there, but Persia was unable to resist the siren call of sleep any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :( hugs to anyone else who's been kicked from their FC while they were offline for an extended period of time.


	10. PSA: Fic Discontinued.

Hi Peeps!

I'll be discontinuing this fic, but HAVE posted a much lengthier rewrite of Persia and Hades' reintroduction here: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/22438660>

Thanks for reading my first fanfic for FFXIV. I truly appreciate and love y'all. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song 'Bird Song' by Juniper Vale. Check it out if you're curious here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IUbqfgk-rU
> 
> Hey! Do you read FFXIV fics (I know you do, you're reading this)? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/GsPXrc5  
We're a gang of FFXIV readers/writers/artists/game players who are all incredibly supportive of each other and somehow both thirsty and wholesome! (I may or may not have made an Emet-Selch bot~~~ )


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